Bethesda Responds To Oblivion Re-Rating 341
Gamespot has details on Bethesda's response to the ESRB for their (some would argue) knee-jerk reaction to fan-added elements of Oblivion. From the article: "There is no nudity in Oblivion without a third party modification. In the PC version of the game only - this doesn't apply to the Xbox 360 version - some modders have used a third party tool to hack into and modify an art archive file to make it possible to create a mesh for a partially nude (topless) female that they add into the game. Bethesda didn't create a game with nudity and does not intend that nudity appear in Oblivion." They go on to state they submitted a 60-page document detailing the violence in the game. If anyone is at fault here, I think it's the ESRB.
Hot Coffee 2: More Cream Please (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not saying I'm agreeing with this kind of crap, but it's nobody's fault but their own for including the content inside the game in some capacity and not cleaning it out after GTA suffered the same fate. They should just suck it up, and enjoy the free publicity.
Re:Why I'm ashamed to be an American in the 21st c (Score:5, Interesting)
1) I'm pretty sure you're referencing the DMCA. This was a product not of the Bush administration, but the Clinton administration.
2) Considering how most people seem to enjoy the concept of a nanny-state where their government will protect its citizens from "the bad people" (which may be Communists, terrorists, Socialists, homosexuals, hippies, pedophiles, athiests, intellectuals, liberals, etc), I'm pretty sure many people would enjoy living in a totalitarian regime that protects everone from being offended or shocked. Those who would not enjoy such a fate would likely be branded one of "the bad people".
Different Ratings? (Score:2, Interesting)
Now that's something that would be interesting to explain to parents. =P
Re:Different Ratings? (Score:4, Interesting)
I recall there being a lot of custom sprays depecting explicit...err...content.
How about a standard ESRB warning:
"ESRB ratings do not reflect potential changes to content by online or modified play."
Potential Nudity Aside... (Score:5, Interesting)
Support Bethesda in the Cause! (Score:2, Interesting)
You can submit a comment/complaint here [esrb.org].
How about WoW? (Score:2, Interesting)
The rating system should be changed. Instead of a single "Teens", "Children", "Mature" etc. rating, this should be multi-layered system. The box should have something like this:
Puting into the parents hands the burden of deciding what is and isn't appropriate for their children.
In short: any kind of measurement must be somewhat precise. There's no precision at all in compressing these different dimensions into a generic "this is okay for teens, that isn't".
barbie and ken should be rated 18+, too... (Score:2, Interesting)
I even saw them in PR0N on the internet. No really there was this YouTube flick where... ah, anyway.
We Europeans have some problems of our own, but this whole "no-nudity-concept" seems even more flawed (and older, obviously) than the DMCA.